Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Iran-Iraq War photos of Iran's 2013 presidential candidates

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf 
At the age of nineteen, Ghalibaf was one of the commanders of the defense forces during the Iran–Iraq War. Shortly afterwards he was named commander of the Rasulollah (the messenger of God) division, one of the most successful divisions of the war. By the time Ghalibaf was twenty-two, he was promoted commander of Nasr Troops.








 
Above: Hasan Qalibaf, brother of the presidential candidate, killed in action, Iran-Iraq War

Saeed Jalili 
Jalili was a young volunteer and Basij combat veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. He lost his lower right leg in battle and walks with a limp.

A young Jalili's Basij ID card, volunteer in the Sacred Defense (Iran-Iraq War)

 
Later in the war, Basij combat veteran Jalili

Hassan Rouhani 
During Iran-Iraq war, Rouhani was a member of the Supreme Defense Council (1982-1988), member of the High Council for Supporting War and headed its Executive Committee (1986-1988), deputy commander of the war (1983-1985), commander of the Khatam-ol-Anbiya Operation Center (1985-1988), and commander of the Iran Air Defense Force (1986-1991). He was appointed as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (1988-1989). At the end of the war, Hassan Rouhani was awarded the second-grade Fath (Victory) Medal along with a group of commanders of the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards. In another ceremony on the occasion of the liberation of Khoramshahr, he and a group of other officials and military commanders who were involved in the war with Iraq were awarded the Nasr Medal, first class.

 
Hashemi Rafsanjani and his deputy, Rouhani, relaying coded instructions for Operation Karbala-5 (2/8/87)

Mohsen Rezaee 
Rezaee became Chief Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps during the Iran-Iraq War in 1981 when he was only 27 years old, and remained in the post until 1997.

IRGC Commander Rezaee with IRI Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff "Iron Man" Shirazi

Photos: Qalibaf.ir, IRDC.ir, Wikipedia
Text: Wikipedia

32 comments:

Mark Pyruz said...

One can't help but be struck by the youth of these battlefield commanders and frontline soldiers.

Anonymous said...

In general foot soldiers are stupid and are not qualified to be president or run the economy; that does not devalue their sacrifice; but (after the war) they are no less corrupt than other segments of the society - maybe even more so due to their low class origin; in general it is old trick of imperialists to destroy a country by putting unqualified people in the position of power in a country in order to blame that country for the calculated result of failure; bad leadership is good for imperialists; you see this plan impemented in IRan smoothly with the help of Mullahs and their foot Soldiers, while educated Iranian are pushed aside or out of the country ...

Anonymous said...

Very impressing Photos. What difficult, yet glorious days.

Yadesh bekheir javani, and God Bless the lost sons & daughters of Iran.

I have a good feeling about Qalibaf.

Azari by fortune and Iranian by grace of God

Dariush London

Anonymous said...

With the exception of mullah Rafsanjani who only sent the cream of Iran's youth to give the ultimate sacrifice from the comfort of their offices, the rest including Qalibaf, Jalili and Razaei are indeed some of the greatest Iranians of a great selfless generation of the jange tahmili. It is very sad to see General Shirazi's photo as this great man's life was cut short by MEK terrorists at such a young age.He was indeed a lion of Iran amongst mere mortals. Iran owes an ultimate eternal debt to its finest generation who defended Iran Zamin during a very difficult period of its illustrious history. May God Bless all these Iranians and the honourable martyr's at Beheste Zahra and the numerous sacred cemeteries of the martyrs. IRAN PAYENDEBAD.

Anonymous said...

Give us a brake. "Battelefield commanders" !

Anonymous said...

Same "Battlefield commanders" who would gladly beat up the demonstrators on the streets. (As admitted by Qalibaf in his recent speech for hard line basiji thugs) and ask for the permission to shoot them.

Anonymous said...

I will give you a "brake" alright! right where it belongs. Moft khors who did not do a thing to help Iran really need a disc brake where the sun don't shine.

Anonymous said...

Which ones were responsible for tying young boys together in a line of mine clearing fodder?

Anonymous said...

Would that be the same Sayyad Shirazi (a fanatical devotee of mullah thug Khomeini) who said "We will continue the war until Saddam Hussein is overthrown so that we can pray at Karbala and Jerusalem"?

I think you mean: ISLAM PAYANDEBAD.

BTW, I think it's amusing when an individual comments on his own post as "Anonymous".

Anonymous said...

How Iranian training and tactics proved decisive

The Syrian military in more than two years of fighting a civil war has proved to be highly professional, dedicated, steadfast under pressure and above all disciplined. Not once in this brutal conflict were there instances of lone initiatives by a local unit or commander. Every move was directed by the presidential palace via the general staff in Damascus. Even when Syrian troops faced setbacks, they retreated in orderly fashion. For some months, nothing has ever been heard of mass desertions, and only of minor ones whose scale turned out to be highly inflated by the opposition which has been exposed as a collection of cannibalistic savage Wahabbis from Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Persian Gulf Arab sheikhdoms.

Steadfast Russian military supplies and resolute Iranian support, particularly elite counterinsurgency experts of the Qods Force have been invaluable for Syrian military success. The misplaced Zionist perception and unrealistic the proposition, which unnamed Israeli defense quarters fed military correspondents Wednesday, May 22, that more time was needed to tell whether Monday’s Syrian shooting attack on the Golan was ordered by Assad or a local initiative was not just way off track but harmful: It conveyed the impression of dithering among Israel’s decision-makers in the face of the Syrian President's firm resolve, backed by Iran and Hizbollah, to turn the divided Golan into the next “resistance front” against Israel.

Iranians in particular are unimpressed by Israeli threats or military capabilities, particularly since Hezbollah's proven military prowess in 2006. Iranian advisors are on the frontlines and seem dismissive of Israeli ability to intervene in the Syrian conflict, particularly in view of recent Russian S-300 and Yakhont deliveries.

Iranians and Hezbollah wasted no time in engaging the Israelis on the Golan by targeting an armored vehicle and killing a sapper. Ignored was the Syrian government’s first direct claim of responsibility for the latest Golan attack. In fact, Assad has made his intentions plain more than once in the two weeks since Israel’s air strike over Damascus - and so has Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah, Tehran’s proxy.

Their plan is to begin with a trickle of small-scale military strikes against Israeli military and civilian targets starting from the Golan - and expanding to other fronts, the Lebanese-Israeli border, in particular. Hizballah, whose superb and highly troops are deeply committed to the Syrian conflict, will at the same time extend its military effort to the war of “resistance” against Israel.

In case their message was missed, on Monday, May 20, President Assad and Sayyed Nasrallah told Lebanese journalist Ibrahim al-Amin, senior editor of the publication Al Akhbar, “The rope is taut to the limit… If anyone at either end flexes a finger, the big confrontation will start… This is the situation on the Zionist enemy’s northern front in Occupied Golan. Now means today; it means this hour.”

And indeed, the next day, Syria flexed its military finger three times by firing three shots at an IDF military patrol jeep on the Golan destroying it - and then got in first to the UN Security Council Wednesday morning with an accusation that an Israeli military jeep had trespassed Syrian territory and was destroyed.

This time Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are in no mood to sit by or declare mere warnings.

Anonymous said...

Agreed no matter what the politics of the day is, and how bad the economy has become These men put their lives and limbs on the line and thanks to them and their comrades we do not need a visa to go to Ahwaz today.

Anonymous said...

The professional Syrian military will not only conquer the Golan Heights in Six very short days, but will stop the Israelis from bombing them at will. Hey, everyone is entitled to fantasize

Nader Uskowi said...

I agree. There were better times then. The enemy was known and the nation was united.

Anonymous said...

and not to forget, thousands of keys to paradise produced for the volunteers!

Anonymous said...

@AnonymousMay 22, 2013 at 11:33 AM.
Bravo! well said, Bravo! Bravo!

Anonymous said...

Hold your horses "bache basiji" I am sure you have received your fair share of "disc brake" where the sun doesn't shine by the likes of your beloved "Battlefield commanders" so you probably miss the "good old time" and is getting nostalgic!

Anonymous said...

with all due respect we would still have the biggest oil refinery in the ME (Abadan) Khoramshahr and the rest of the infra-structure intact if Khomeini did not want to export his revolution to crazy Saddam's Iraq.
Being a nationalist is a good thing but we should be fair in our analysis of history. There is strong evidence of Iranian interference in Iraq in the beginning of the revolution and provocations and constant talk and propaganda of exporting the "Islamic rev." to Iraq, that got Saddam to attack Iran.
Khomeini's and the revolutionaries strategical mistakes can not be forgotten or forgiven by the Iranians and specially the martyrs.

Basrawi said...

And keep in mind that Iran was actually the aggressor for most of the war only to be defeated militarily in the battlefields in 1988. The Ayatollahs and Mullahs rejected a peace deal that would see Iran get $70Bn worth of reparations from Saudi Arabia. In the same token Saddam took the opportunity to propose a joint military alliance with Iran to make common cause and help the Palestinians against the Zionists, that too was rejected!

Anonymous said...

@7:54 AM

Try to look at the motive behind the quote. It was said before the battle that was set to capture Basra. Such rhetoric is often required to spur passion in troops.

General Shirazi opposed Khomeini's decision to invade Iraq, quite harshly.

Anonymous said...

@Basrawi

"In the same token Saddam took the opportunity to propose a joint military alliance with Iran to make common cause and help the Palestinians against the Zionists, that too was rejected!"

You would have to be insane to accept such a deal. How could ANYONE in Iran's government reach such a conclusion with Saddam, of all men, who launched a war of aggression? Not only would there be good reason to question Iraq's sincerity, it would be political suicide to accept such a term.

Anonymous said...

It's called "boshkeh-yeh eshgh" in Hozeh-yeh Elmi-yeh Qom.

Anonymous said...

Basrawi May 22, 2013 at 6:44 PM
The only one defeated here was saddam at the end of the war iraq was utterly bankrupt saddam owed his various creditors tens of billions of dollars[hundreds of billions in todays money],the price of oil was at an all time low so he could barely pay the interest on these loans and debts,he had captured no territory,he had had to draft literally every man he could find into the military and all this despite having the backing of the west,the ussr and his arab "brothers",for saddam the defeat was total the only bright spot was that he was still in power but that was all,indeed he was so desperate economically that he stupidly went and invaded kuwait and the rest as they say was history,all of this because iran stayed on the offensive had they not done so saddam might still be in power today.I`m sure it must have been very sweet for the iranians to watch as saddams former allies turned on him and ultimately destroyed him,to watch as saddam in desperation had his airforce flee to iran.As for the idea of some kind of alliance between saddam and iran,I think that just goes to show how increasingly desperate he became as the war dragged on,the man was a fool if he thought anyone would take that offer seriously,had he offered that deal at the beginning of the revolution things could have been very different but he was too much of a dimwitted thug to see that

Anonymous said...

Anonymous May 22, 2013 at 11:33 AM
Yeah,just like those western idiots and their arab puppets who thought that syria would be another libya and that assad would be finished,now in their desperation they`re supporting al qaida affiliated terrorists who are about as anti western as you can get.I dont think that was supposed to be part of the wests "fantasy" for syria,but I do agree assads failure to hit back at israel has weakened the credibility of syrian deterrence and that is a bad thing

Anonymous said...

The FACTS speak for themselves...

Syrian Army detains Saudi, Qatari officers caught aiding rebel forces

NICOSIA — The Syrian Army has captured scores of foreign fighters,
including those from Qatar and European Union states.

Arab diplomatic sources said the Syrian army captured Qatari military officers as well as a senior officer of the Saudi intelligence community in the formerly rebel-held town of Qusair. They said the Saudi was captured near the Lebanese border and was identified as an agent of the Saudi intelligence agency. Syria has already informed Qatar of the arrests and demanded an explanation,” a diplomat said.

The sources said the Qatari officers had directed the flow of weapons
and funds to the increasingly foreign controlled mostly Wahabbi funded revolt in Syria. They said the officers were also mentoring rebel operations, which have included thousands of foreign fighters. However, the Saudi and Maghreb recruited Salafi terrorist groups have proved no match for the professional Syrian military or its highly motivated Hezbollah allies. In the past few weeks the Syrians and their Iranian and Hezbollah allies have inflicted crippling losses on terrorist groups and have secured all major highways in the country.

A Lebanese parliamentarian said the Syrian Army also captured military
advisers from Belgium, Britain, France and Netherlands in Qusair. Lebanese sources said dozens of foreign military officers were arrested and interrogated. The Syrian military has also captured large quantities of Saudi, Qatari and Jordanian supplied Croatian and NATO weapons stocks.

Qatar has been identified as the leading Arab supporter of the largely Salafi fanned revolt. The sources said Qatar was believed to have funneled more than $500 million to recruit fighters and procure weapons that fueled the two-year war against President Assad. The widely publicized atrocities committed by the Salafi terror groups have caused revulsion in Syrian populace and also amongst their western backers. The savagery of the terror groups has also helped galvanize public opinion and stiffen Syrian military resolve.

In April 2013, the European Union acknowledged that at least 5000
nationals were fighting with the rebels against the regime of President
Bashar al Assad. Britain, France and Ireland were said to have provided the
largest number of European fighters. Saudis and Qataris have also recruited terrorists from Jordan, Russian Caucasus, Australia, Canada and the US.

Anonymous said...

In the coming election, Iranian nation will be rewarded to choose from many heroes, who were willing to sacrifice their lives for the nation, without any hesitation.

Islamic Republic has the exceptional privilege and honor to offer its citizens its best heroes, as very few countries in the world can have so many brave ones in their existence.

I would expect that most of those candidates, if not all, will create a future government of national unity and will serve toogether on various ministerial or vice presidential positions for the success of their country.

A-F

B.M.A said...

Basrawi!-

ARE you high on something?-do you want to re-write history?-

@-a victory in military means accomplishing what you planed ,defeating a resistance and having an upper-hand against your opponent..the gallant IRANIAN soldiers denied the aggressor Saddam victory.inhumanity,injustice,barbarism,on the part of the former Iraqi leader is what drove him into that unjust war with His neighbor! and the fruits of this inhumanity is what befell him!

Nader Uskowi said...

The Guardian Council has already decided for the nation who are the heroes and who are the villains. Now they have to pick among the officially approved heroes. Welcome to the presidential election of 2013, or is it 1984?

Anonymous said...

When it comes to claims made by the Assad Family Hereditary "Republic" (and media sympathetic to the Baathist regime), "FACTS" aren't facts.

Anonymous said...

What kind of idiot will believe in this. You think if they had captured these military advisers from the west and other countries, they would not have shown them on the Syrian state Television by now.
This is a proxy war between the US and its (Sunni) allies Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, etc.. and Iran and its (Shia) allies.
Innocent Syrians are getting killed and their country ruined.

Anonymous said...

B.M.A!

The Iraqis managed to do the same thing, defeating the Iranians and not letting them achieve their goals! The lunatic Khomayni admitted failure by his own famous words "drinking a chalice of poison" when he accepted the UN resolution 598 in 1988!

Had the war gone on for one more year the Iraqis would have been in Ahwaz as there was virtually nothing standing in their way. The Iraqi military was a lot stronger and more powerful than it was in 1980 and would have without trouble reached its objectives if Saddam had ordered his armed forces to make another effort in 1988.

All genuine analysts and experts on strategical military matters agree, and no, i'm not talking about your wannabe analysts that post their day-dreamings on this blog, but (see USMC documents & assesments), they all agree that Iraqi troops would have been considerably more succesful had they attempted another invasion in 1988 and this time they would have occupied Ahwaz and additional cities beyond, had they pushed into Iran for a second time ... and the most chilling facts are that the Iranians would not have had the capacity to drive out the Iraqi forces, because they were drained of resources (money, military hardware, supplies and manpower)

The Iranians were just lucky as Saddam no longer had the desire to continue his plans and most of the world just felt pity for the poor Iranians for having suffered total humiliation in the fields of battle.

All Iranians troops on Iraqi ground were either killed or taken captive. Al Faw was liberated in just 36 hours and the balance of forces ratio was 20:1 in favor of the Iraqis!!! The intensity of Iraqi artillery, rockets and tank fire was so heavy that Iranian commanders have said afterwards that they couldn't even issue orders through their radioes because of the massive shellings making them crawl and sniff the ground the whole time!!! The liberation of the Majnoon island and the Al Hawizeh Marshes were completed in no time!!! What was left standing on the other side of the border in Iran? Light disarrayed resistence that could have been swept aside without trouble by the Republic Guard.

I will be kind to provide you with some reading material, so you can expand your current poor kowledge...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawakalna_ala_Allah_Operations

I will concede that the only major mistake Saddam did was to move into Kuwait and he should have calculated the risks much more carefully such as the response from the West. He took the wrong decision and had he been less gutsy then Iraq would still been the dominant force in the region.

Anonymous said...

Ghalibaf is an awesome mayor. I love what he has done and continues to do to Tehran.

Anonymous said...

the difference between Rouhani and Ghalibaf is that Rouhani would order "go" but Ghalibaf would order "come."